By now I think everybody here knows our Weeville house is crooked and settling at the foundation. We contracted to have some new windows put in courtesy of one of the big box home improvement stores. Custom made windows, nice. They came out and we agreed and they measured for the new windows back in May. They finally showed up two days ago after a maddening appointment in July where they stood us up. The dude called from the truck on the morning of the scheduled installation and said my windows were not on the truck when he got in it to come over here so he started calling around found out my windows had never been manufactured. Nobody bothered to ever tell me that and I had moved lots of furniture and lots of stuff in the garage to make way for the new windows that were not coming for another month. I was unhappy.
They came two days ago and 2 of the windows won't fit in the hole because the house is so crooked,. I had showed the salesman that and he said no problem, they put square windows in crooked holes all the time. Not this time, not every time this time:
They'll be back in 4 to 6 weeks with two windows made an inch smaller so they can shim them into the hole and cover up the gap with trim metal.
So in the meantime I've been refreshing the deck off of the screened porch out back. I pressure washed it and painted it and one of the railings had gotten sad over time. Now, picture this - whoever built this house in 1987 was drunk. The studs are wherever they felt like putting them, lots of the light switches are about 10 degrees from straight and the concrete in the garage was poured 4 inches thick on one side and 1 inch thick on the other side. And it's settling at the foundation big time. THEN, the previous owner came and added his special crooked touches like the screen porch and the deck. Here's the way the screen door fits in the framing he built:
So I'm rebuilding a little section of handrail. They didn't have the channels to lock in the latticework so I had to make them. I ripped 2 x 4's in half and then routed them to make the channels. I am proud. It all came together and some of the parts actually touch one another. Here's all the parts laid together to prove they'll work, not at all screwed and secured.
That 4 x 4 on the left corner is not a sunken post, it's toed into to the deck joists and I was bound and determined to reuse it but the end of it was cut so crooked that it had twisted the railing piece on top. I'm gonna cut it off level at the top. I studied it and decided I'd try it with the sawzall. I didn't have wood blades for the sawzall so I went and got some. $15 for 5 of them. Driving home from the store I'm planning strategy, knowing that's hard to do well. I figured if I keep sawing on it and f-ing it up until it's finally too short I'll just go get a new 4 x 4 and cut it square on the table saw and knock the ruined one out and put the square one in. Then it dawned on me...the blades for the sawzall were $15 and a new square 4 x 4 is $13, And hell yes I cut it crooked but it's not as crooked as it was and it's crooked in a different direction to give me something new to look at. What is it they say about working smarter and not harder? Well, I don't think I have ever "heard" that.
They came two days ago and 2 of the windows won't fit in the hole because the house is so crooked,. I had showed the salesman that and he said no problem, they put square windows in crooked holes all the time. Not this time, not every time this time:
They'll be back in 4 to 6 weeks with two windows made an inch smaller so they can shim them into the hole and cover up the gap with trim metal.
So in the meantime I've been refreshing the deck off of the screened porch out back. I pressure washed it and painted it and one of the railings had gotten sad over time. Now, picture this - whoever built this house in 1987 was drunk. The studs are wherever they felt like putting them, lots of the light switches are about 10 degrees from straight and the concrete in the garage was poured 4 inches thick on one side and 1 inch thick on the other side. And it's settling at the foundation big time. THEN, the previous owner came and added his special crooked touches like the screen porch and the deck. Here's the way the screen door fits in the framing he built:
So I'm rebuilding a little section of handrail. They didn't have the channels to lock in the latticework so I had to make them. I ripped 2 x 4's in half and then routed them to make the channels. I am proud. It all came together and some of the parts actually touch one another. Here's all the parts laid together to prove they'll work, not at all screwed and secured.
That 4 x 4 on the left corner is not a sunken post, it's toed into to the deck joists and I was bound and determined to reuse it but the end of it was cut so crooked that it had twisted the railing piece on top. I'm gonna cut it off level at the top. I studied it and decided I'd try it with the sawzall. I didn't have wood blades for the sawzall so I went and got some. $15 for 5 of them. Driving home from the store I'm planning strategy, knowing that's hard to do well. I figured if I keep sawing on it and f-ing it up until it's finally too short I'll just go get a new 4 x 4 and cut it square on the table saw and knock the ruined one out and put the square one in. Then it dawned on me...the blades for the sawzall were $15 and a new square 4 x 4 is $13, And hell yes I cut it crooked but it's not as crooked as it was and it's crooked in a different direction to give me something new to look at. What is it they say about working smarter and not harder? Well, I don't think I have ever "heard" that.
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